Learning a new language

A few months ago, I started learning a new programming language: Golang.

Yes, the language with the weird creature mascot.

And everything was uncomfortable.
How do I do the most basic things?

Typing := feels awkward.
What about arr := [3]int{1,2,3}?
And that great standard library I’ve heard so much about, well I don’t know which functions exist and where to find them.
Also, I keep typing parentheses after if statements. Aaaaah!

But I also noticed a lot of cool things.

I don’t have to spend days choosing a testing framework, there simply is one!
I don’t have to configure formatters, linters and all the language options I want to use or ignore.
There’s a clear path to walk, and a clear way to go.

There’s a clear way to Go

I noticed myself stepping into the beginner’s mindset again.
An ego check. Not knowing anything.

Sure, I could use my former language knowledge, and things probably clicked a bit faster.
But also, I was searching, curious, struggling, discovering.
And it felt good.
It feels great not to know and to discover.
Because the creative journey of discovery and the path to mastery is what drew me into coding in the first place.

The creative journey of discovery and the path to mastery is what drew me into coding in the first place

What happened is that I reconnected with what I love about coding.
I was brought back to that 12 year old kid who grabbed a programming book off the shelf and dove into a mystical world of communicating with a machine, uncovering the inner workings of a complex device at the pinnacle of human engineering.

So, what’s the message here?
It’s simple: dive into something new!
Un-believe that you know.
Rekindle your fire and curiosity in the craft you’ve spent years mastering.

It’s worth it.